The Summer Edition of Organic & Wellness News has just been published: here is the link. I have contributed two articles – a review of Natural Products Europe 2016 trade show and a feature on the organic products market in Korea. Enjoy!
OWN: The Summer 2016 edition is online
Filed under Asia, Industry News, organicwellnessnews.com, Retail, Trade Shows, Travel, Trends
Beautyjagd: Organic beauty news in English (Chapters 21 & 22)
Here are the last two installments of Beautyjagd in English: News and reviews from the world of organic beauty (Chapter 21) includes Julia’s famous annual sun protection feature (super detailed reviews of the latest organic sun cream launches; if you’re at all interested in organic sun care products, read this!!), another Fragrant Beauties post and two Beauty Notes articles with a strong focus on French organic beauty. News and reviews from the world of organic beauty (Chapter 22) features an interview with the two founders of organic online perfumery Savue, a feature on the new liquid eyeshadows in French brand Couleur Caramel’s Zanzibar collection, the last installment of the Fragrant Beauties series, an article on UK brand Neal’s Yard Remedies’ oil-based Nourishing Lavender Shampoo and, as always, loads of information and reviews about the latest organic beauty launches from across the world. Enjoy!
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Filed under Beautyjagd
Retail notes from Budapest: [Store Profile] Bio-Barát
If you’re following me on Instagram you’ll know that last weekend I was in Budapest. I had a fabulous time there; if you like coffee and books, it’s the ideal city! Antiquarian book shopping along Muzéum körut (one of my absolutely FAVOURITE book streets!), sampling espressos in various Budapest cafés, eating roast duck with red cabbage and dumplings, discovering the amazing variety of Tokaj wines and, of course, I also spent hours in various drugstores and supermarkets doing store checks! And whilst doing so, I came across a very interesting domestic health food retailer: Bio-Barát.
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Filed under Délicieux!, Retail, Store Profiles, Travel, Trends
DMY International Design Festival Berlin 2016: [Show Report]
DMY is back in town! Last weekend, the 14th DMY International Design Festival took place here in Berlin. And DMY’s core event – the big design exhibition – returned to Kraftwerk Mitte in Köpenicker Straße. Kraftwerk Mitte is an old power station which hosts various events and exhibitions and is also the location of famous techno club Tresor. If you are interested, here are my articles about DMY 2015 and DMY 2014.
For 2016, DMY’s organizers had decided on the festival motto of “Odyssey 2016”: the boundaries between the different design and art disciplines are becoming increasingly blurry; they are starting to fluctuate– between digital and analogue, online and offline; between architecture and social movements. And yes, there might be a loss of orientation (this is where the Odysseus reference comes in) but it is precisely this lack of definition which makes the journey so exciting.
And this is exactly what I felt when I walked around the exhibition halls: so many cross-boundary design concepts and materials; innovative ideas which could have come straight from a Sci Fi or Cyberpunk novel – it was quite exhilarating. Particularly the “Education” and “New Talents” sections!
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Filed under Berlin, Design, Show Reports, Trends
Beautyjagd: Organic beauty news in English (Chapters 19 & 20)
Here are the last two chapters of Beautyjagd in English! (News and Reviews from the world of organic beauty (Chapter 19) includes a review of Berlin-based Denttabs’s toothpaste tablets, Beauty Notes from Julia’s recent trip to Tokyo and Seoul, two further installments of the antique perfume flacon series Fragrant Beauties and an analysis of the top 5 beauty products sold in European online store Ecco Verde. And in News and Reviews from the world of organic beauty (Chapter 20) you’ll find product reviews of German skin care brand Lavera’s new sleeping mask, premium makeup brand Und Gretel’s Ilge Translucent Powder and aloe vera brand Santaverde’s recently launched Age Protect Fluid, Beauty Notes from Seoul, two Fragrant Beauties articles and a feature on the ten biggest organic beauty brands from Korea. Enjoy!
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Filed under Beautyjagd
Next Organic 2016: [Show Report]
This is the fourth time I’ve attend organic trend show Next Organic (if you’re interested, here are my articles about Next Organic 2015 and Next Organic 2014). What I like about this compact little trade fair is that Next Organic is refreshingly non-dogmatic: a brand’s regional heritage and an ethical, sustainable production process is more important than organic certificates. This makes Next Organic is a great place to discover small manufacturers, artisan food labels and innovative food start-ups.
Each year, Next Organic organises a start-up competition and the winners get the opportunity to present themselves at the trade show. And in 2016, there were some fabulous brand concepts to discover: seaweed pasta made from algae harvested in Ireland, a company selling food products sourced from conflict countries and a food label which manufactures bone broth in convenient to-go packs. On a side note: I also enjoyed seeing Paleo foods mingle so harmoniously with vegan brands!
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Filed under Berlin, Délicieux!, organicwellnessnews.com, Retail, Trade Shows, Trends
Triangle: Fermented Hydrogel Facial Mask (Whamisa), Pink Camellia Soombi Mask (Blossom Jeju) and Calendula Modeling Mask (Lindsay)
Here is another installment of the Triangle series. Today, I am looking at three popular face mask formats. Although all three companies are from Korea, they are as different as their product concepts: Whamisa is a certified organic niche brand, Blossom Jeju is a premium cosmetics brand from the island of Jeju and Lindsay is the salon face mask manufacturer who started the rubber mask hype in Korea.
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Filed under Asia, Brand Profiles, Exhibitions, Industry News, Retail, Show Reports, Travel, Trends
Retail notes from Tokyo: [Brand Profile] Gofun from Ueba Esou
A few days ago I was walking through drugstore retailer Ainz & Tulpe’s Harajuku store when the fabulous retro-looking packaging of Ueba Esou’s Gofun nail polish range caught my eye. That very same day, in a different part of Tokyo, I saw Gofun again; this time in a store selling traditional Japanese handicrafts. Besides the Gofun polishes, the store also carries Ueba Esou’s hand cream range – less retro-looking but equally charming. I started to research the brand and guess what – Ueba Esou isn’t a cosmetics company at all: they are a Kyoto-based manufacturer of traditional Japanese artist paints.
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Filed under Asia, Brand Profiles, Industry News, Retail, Travel, Trends
Retail notes from Tokyo: [Store Profile] Its‘ Demo
I was walking around Shibuya today (my must-visit stores in this area include Cosmekitchen in Hikarie department store, the big Tokyu Hands and, of course, design depato Loft Shibuya!) and saw this interesting example of gender-specific retail: Its’ Demo is a fashion/beauty store chain aimed at an exclusively female demographic.
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Filed under Asia, Industry News, Retail, Store Profiles, Travel, Trends
Retail notes from Seoul: [Show Report] Cosmobeauty 2016
Well, I’m back in Seoul! I’ve only been here for a few days and already spent a lot of time in various beauty stores to check out what’s new in Boons, LOHBS, Olive Young et. al. (you can see some of my finds on Instagram: @annika.trendtraveller – or scroll down the page to the Instagram widget on the left sidebar).
I’ve also been stocking up on some of my favorite Korean and international beauty brands, including the famous Starting Treatment Essence from Korean brand Secret Key, the Skin Soothing Gel from organic US brand A24 which I discovered during my last trip to Seoul; and the Deep Rich Toner from my favorite organic Korean beauty brand, Whamisa!
However, one of the reasons why I came to Seoul was to visit Cosmobeauty 2016 trade show which took place as part of Health & Beauty Week from 28th April to 30th April 2016 in COEX exhibition centre. There were three trade shows actually: Cosmobeauty (retail and salon cosmetics), Organic Industry Expo (organic food) and Health Industry Expo (supplements and lifestyle products).
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Filed under Asia, cosmeticsbusiness.com, Industry News, organicwellnessnews.com, Retail, Show Reports, Trade Shows, Travel
TRENDS. TRAVELS. AND BERLIN 